Abstract:
Economic pressures as well as the desire for a competitive advantage has increasingly forced the composite industry to explore decidedly less expensive routes in the fabrication of high performance, fiber reinforced materials. These alternative routes include novel variations on traditional composite manufacturing processes, the use of automation in materials handling, and the burgeoning application of process control. Efficient computer hardware platforms and finely tuned control algorithms and providing practical tool to implement critical process decisions, avoiding waste and enhancing turn around time. However successful deployment depends upon the kind and amount of feedback provided to a given control system; the ability to monitor resin flow, for example, can be critical in polymer composite processing. The present research has focused on the development of a real time resin flow monitor for the resin transfer molding (RTM) process. This monitor, known as SMARTweave, explicitly addressed the need for an inexpensive embedded sensor approach for detecting the instantaneous location and movement of polymer resin during the RTM impregnation phase. Although the SMARTweave approach has been detailed in earlier publications, the present paper provides an overview of the challenges in deploying this sensor system over a variety of polymer resins. Progress in developing the SMARTweave system as a reliable and effective component of a real-time control system will be discussed, with particular emphasis on its use in epoxy and vinyl ester resins.
Source: Proceedings of the 'NDE applied to Process Control of Composite Fabrication' - Conference, 1-2 Oct 1996 St. Louis, Missouri. Publisher and Organizer: Nondestructive Testing Information Analysis Center (NTIAC) Texas Research Institute Austin, Inc. Austin, Texas [http://www.ntiac.com] [Buying the Proceedings]
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